


So Close (And Yet Not There)

by Dreamshaper



Category: Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (2020)
Genre: F/F, The 5 Times Trope, This is fluff, and humour, and some smut XD, because i had to
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-26
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:35:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26662279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dreamshaper/pseuds/Dreamshaper
Summary: 5 Times Dinah and Helena almost kiss, and the one time they do.
Relationships: Helena Bertinelli/Dinah Lance
Comments: 57
Kudos: 114





	1. Sticks and Stones

**Author's Note:**

> I love this trope, so of course I had to write it. XD Enjoy! :D

“Say, Crossbow”, Renee says one fine afternoon, a few weeks after the Birds of Prey have started working together, “are you ever actually relaxed? Or are you always on edge? You’ll have a heart attack with forty at this rate.”

“I eat healthy and I work out”, Helena points out in reply, completely missing the point, “that’s very unlikely to lead to a heart attack.”

“That may be so”, Renee concedes, just as Dinah enters and greets them, “but you’re always so high strung. You need to find ways to relax.”

“Training relaxes me”, Helena tells her, and Renee rolls her eyes, “so does taking care of my weapons. I’m relaxed when I do that.”

“I give up”, Renee declares, earning a confused look from the assassin, “Dinah, you take over. Explain what I mean. You speak Huntress better than I do.”

“I don’t know what you mean”, Dinah says with a shrug, only confusing Helena further, “I only just walked in. What are you guys talking about?”

“Renee says I will have a heart attack, but I don’t think so”, Helena solemnly tells her, while Renee rolls her eyes once more and walks off, apparently giving up on the conversation, at least for now, “I told her, I eat healthy and I work out. She thinks I need to relax more.”

“Well, you do always look pretty tense”, Dinah says thoughtfully, and Helena makes a face, feeling as if they are teaming up now, “unless when you’re sharpening knives or cleaning your crossbow. And somehow when you are in the training room, though I’m still not sure how you manage to look relaxed while lifting weights.”

“That is what I said”, Helena tells her, feeling a pleasant tingle in her belly at the fact that Dinah has noticed these things, “I feel relaxed when I maintain my weapons or when I’m training. But Renee thinks that’s not enough.”

“It’s not!” Renee calls from the training room, Helena making a face again as she shrugs, feeling a bit helpless now; Dinah feels bad for her, and tells her not to worry about it, glad when this earns her a small smile from the assassin - Helena is getting more open towards them, and has begun to trust them, but she’s still somewhat guarded, even if Dinah has caught her staring a few times when she’s thought the singer wouldn’t notice, and her smiles are rare, so she feels happy each time she manages to get one from the taller woman. 

“Well, if you are supposed to relax, why don’t we spar a bit”, Dinah suggests, and as expected, this earns her another smile; sparring has become somewhat of a regular thing between the two of them, Dinah might not have Helena’s level of training, but she’s not far behind, and she’s eager to catch up, if only to make fighting the bad guys easier.

Certainly not because she wants to impress Helena with her progress and her skill.

“I got something new we can try”, she says, she figures this might level the playing field a bit, as Helena still is better at the hand to hand, “meet me in the training room in five minutes? Gotta get it from the car.”

“Okay”, Helena says, looking intrigued; she doesn’t ask though, but simply goes to change into her training clothes, then busies herself with warming up until Dinah joins her, the singer carrying two staves almost as long as herself, smirking as she holds them up so Helena can get a good look at them.

“Borrowed them from a friend”, she says, tossing one of them at the taller woman, not surprised when Helena catches it with ease, “you used those before?”

Helena raises an eyebrow, then answers by twirling the staff with ease, first around her wrist, then behind her back and finally in front of herself, in a series of fluid movements which make Dinah feel quite warm; this isn’t quite what she has been going for, but it does look good, and she’s not really surprised that Helena knows how to use this.

“It’s a good idea, bring something new to the training”, Helena says, watching Dinah closely for her reaction and feeling good when the singer smiles proudly, “we have to be careful with those though, getting hit full force with those really hurts.”

Dinah nods, raising her staff in a silent challenge; it’s not the first time she’s using one of those, and it’s not for Helena, either, so she figures she doesn’t really need to hold back, and starts forward, swinging the wood in a hard arc, aimed for the assassin’s ribs.

Helena easily blocks the hit, and the impact sends a jolt all the way up to Dinah’s shoulders; this shows her Helena isn’t exactly holding back either, despite having said they’d need to be careful, and she sets her jaw, now determined to land at least one hit.

The clacks of wood meeting wood are surprisingly loud in the room, mixing with the grunts both women let out as they train; Helena goes for a low sweep at Dinah’s legs, momentarily impressed when the singer easily jumps over her attack, and she wastes no time, retaliating at once, bringing her staff down, Helena just in time managing to get hers up to block the hit.

She grunts at the impact, quite impressed by how good Dinah is with this weapon; but then, she figures as she swings again and Dinah blocks this time, she has seen her fight with a baseball bat, and she has been good with that, too, better than someone who’s never used one before could have been.

Dinah swings at her again, and she blocks the hit, then uses the now crossed staves and brute force to push Dinah back, knowing she’s physically stronger than the singer; Dinah strains against it, she can tell, but she has to retreat, until her back hits the wall and Helena’s staff ends up across her chest, she could have pushed it up against her throat, but doesn’t dare go for that, aware that it’s too dangerous for a training session.

“Damn”, Dinah lets out, breathing heavily, Helena can actually feel her chest rise and fall through her grip on the staff, and that does some weird things to her, “you’re really good at this.”

Helena can only nod, finding it difficult to speak all at once, and not because she’s out of breath from sparring, she is breathing a bit heavier, but it’s not so bad it would have affected her ability to talk; her gaze flickers down to Dinah’s lips, then back up to her eyes, she hopes Dinah hasn’t noticed, she really doesn’t want to make this weird.

She doesn’t want to make this weird, but she also wants to kiss Dinah, has been wanting to for a while now; those two needs war inside her for a moment, then her more rational side wins and she steps back, lowering the staff as a signal that the session is over.

“You’re not bad yourself”, she says, somewhat gruff; Dinah gives her a smile and shrugs, then lets her know she better shower now or the bad guys will smell her from a while away, already heading towards the bathroom while Helena is still nodding.

Helena watches her go, and wonders if she really has seen that brief disappointment in Dinah’s eyes when she’s stepped away or if it’s just wishful thinking.


	2. Off Their Feet

“Okay, we gotta be careful about this one”, Renee whispers as the three of them are crouched behind a shipping container, Helena idly wondering why these people always do their shady business either at the harbour or at some creepy abandoned warehouse, “far as I know, they are better armed than your average street gang. Expect guns, hopefully nothing bigger like a machine gun or something.”

Helena lifts her crossbow slightly in response, the weapon already loaded and ready to be used; and while Renee normally isn’t happy whenever their opponents end up dead during their nightly missions, she’s not protesting this time.

“Crossbow, you and I go first”, she says instead, pulling her own gun from the holster, “thin the herd out a bit, and once they got over their surprise, the three of us move in together. Sound good?”

Helena and Dinah both nod to that, and after exchanging a glance with the assassin, both Renee and Helena make their move; they pop out from behind their cover and start firing, taking several men down with ease before the others even realize what is happening.

The others do recover from the surprise after all though, bringing out weapons, a few of them using guns as Renee has said, but others are armed with knives and one guy, absurdly, with a machete; Helena takes him out before he can get too close, with a well-placed bolt to the neck, then dives behind the nearest cover as another guy aims his gun at her.

The shot hits the floor where she’s been a second earlier, and she can hear the guy curse, her cover keeping her from seeing him; she hears Dinah let out a shout she has heard many times at this point, the sort of noise Dinah makes when she lands a kick, and the way this is followed by a body hitting the ground only confirms this.

One of them stops firing, and Helena’s focus immediately moves from listening for what Dinah is doing to that; she figures the guy has to reload, and leans past the cover, seeing him fumble with his weapon, he either isn’t used to guns or is nervous, but whatever the reason is, it’s costing him valuable time and Helena makes use of his clumsiness, firing a bolt in his neck before he can get the job done.

He falls, gurgling blood as he dies, and Helena feels darkly satisfied, the way she always does when she bests an opponent; she figures that it’s not exactly normal to feel this way, and perhaps not healthy, either, but she has spent fifteen years of her life being trained to do exactly this, and she can’t quite help herself.

One of the knife-wielding guys charges at her, shouting either in anger or perhaps to encourage herself; Helena lets go of the crossbow so that it ends up dangling from the chain it’s fastened to, easily sidestepping the swipe of the knife, grabbing the guy’s forearm next and using his own momentum against him to throw him over her shoulder, the knife clattering from his hand when he hits the ground.

Helena knows better than to assume he’s down though, so she follows through with a quick punch to his face, taking him out fully; and when she straightens up again, she sees one of the gunmen aim at Dinah’s back, the singer completely unaware of the danger she’s in.

She doesn’t bother calling out, but practically shoots forward, tackling Dinah a second before the shot is fired; somehow, she manages to not only get Dinah out of the line of fire, but to turn as they fall, so that she ends up hitting the ground on her back with Dinah on top of her, her breath leaving her in a soundless huff.

Despite that, Helena still takes note of Renee gunning down the man who’d almost shot Dinah, then Dinah lets out a “shit”, sounding as breathless as Helena herself feels, and she almost automatically looks up at her, their eyes meeting yet again.

All at once, time seems to slow down to a crawl, and Helena can feel her breath catch in her throat; she’s suddenly hyper aware of how close Dinah actually is to her, lying on top of her like that, and she feels quite hot all at once, not quite sure what to make of this, her stomach clenching oddly.

It reminds her a bit of how it has felt when Luca has landed a punch there during training, but it feels at the same time better than this; and she can tell that Dinah is affected, as well, close enough to her to notice her swallow heavily.

The singer’s hands have ended up on her waist and near her ribcage when they have fallen, and she feels Dinah move one of them, for a moment thinking she wants to brace herself to get back up; as it turns out though, it’s a sort of caress, and it makes Helena’s breath hitch again.

Dinah angles her head a bit, and Helena is fairly certain that she will make some sort of move now, maybe kiss her, and her heart flutters… and just then, a man hits the ground not even two feet away as Renee takes him down, and they both snap back to their situation, realizing that now is certainly not a good time to get lost like this.

Clearly, Dinah has similar thoughts, coming to her feet quickly, and Helena could have sworn she’s blushing a bit; she doesn’t allow herself to get distracted by this again though, focusing fully on the fight again, and scolding herself for having lost her concentration like this.

_ This could have gotten you both killed _ , she angrily berates herself, punching the next best guy a bit harder than perhaps strictly necessary, and taking him out in one hit, unaware of how Dinah takes note of this and frowns,  _ you could have gotten Dinah hurt, just because you lost all focus. This is not what you were taught. Focus, dammit! _

She takes her anger out on another guy by kicking him, from the corner of her eye seeing that Dinah does the same; and a short while later, the last man falls to the singer’s high kick, and Helena allows herself to relax a bit, still angry at herself though for having her focus slip like that.

“Hey”, Dinah distracts her from scolding herself, making Helena look at her, “thanks for saving my ass back there. I’m not sure why you tackled me like an overeager quarterback, but I assume you had a good reason.”

“Some guy was aiming his gun at your back”, Renee answers before Helena has the chance to say anything, prompting her to nod along, “Huntress got you out of the line of fire.”

“Thanks indeed, then”, Dinah says, smiling at her; for a moment, she looks as if she wants to say something else, then seems to change her mind as she clears her throat and looks away, Helena feeling as if a chance has been missed when she goes to make sure none of the guys will jump back up and attack them again, trying hard to ignore how heavy her heart suddenly feels.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tsk tsk Helena. Focus ;)


	3. This Close

Just as it has become a thing for Dinah and Helena to spar together, the three of them having victory drinks has become a regular event, whenever they have successfully taken down another gang of bad guys; and since none of them has gotten hurt that night, victory drinks happen, the three women heading to the bar they usually frequent after their nightly exploits.

The barkeep there knows them by now, and waves Hi at them as they enter; they always use the same both, and always sit the same way, Helena with her back to the wall so she can keep an eye on the room, Dinah next to her and Renee opposite of them, usually making use of how much room this gives her on the bench to stretch out her legs, claiming she needs the extra room anyway because she’s the oldest of the team.

Helena doesn’t quite get why Renee can call herself old when she gains some sort of advantage from it, but gets mad when Dinah or she make a quip about her age; Renee has gotten quite mad at her the one time she has made a comment though, even though she hasn’t even meant it in any sort of bad way, and so, Helena just keeps those thoughts to herself for now, not wanting to be the target of Renee’s glare again.

“I’ll get the first round”, Renee declares, as she usually does, and then Helena normally gets the second round and Dinah the third, “the usual?”

Both Helena and Dinah let out agreeing noises, and Renee makes her way to the bar; and while Helena figures she should be used to being so close to Dinah, what with the sparring and the way they always sit like this, she suddenly feels nervous, it feels like something is shifting between them, and she’s not quite sure how to handle this.

She’s been given her first lesson on how to kill a man with her bare hands shortly before her tenth birthday, but no one ever has taught her how to handle what she feels for Dinah, and how to handle these things, how to make a move and how to find out if the other person feels the same.

“We’re really getting good at the whole teamwork thing”, Dinah comments, once again distracting Helena from her thoughts, the assassin nodding at once; Dinah doesn’t add anything, just smiles at her, but Helena still feels oddly called out.

At least this time, she knows where the feeling comes from - when they have started the team, Helena has been so used to working alone, it’s been difficult to change this, she’s often charged in before the other two have had a chance to make a gameplan or come up with ideas which don’t involve Helena putting herself at risk by taking the lead without warning.

“You can say it”, she says before she can stop herself, Dinah looking honestly confused for a moment and giving Helena reason to think that perhaps, she hasn’t been subtly called out after all, but she elaborates anyway, just in case, “ _ I’m  _ getting better at it. I know I wasn’t much of a teamplayer when we started.”

“That’s not what I meant though”, Dinah tells her, shaking her head for emphasis, “you know Renee and I weren’t, either. The three of us, we  _ all _ are getting better at it.”

“Oh”, Helena lets out, then smiles a bit as she realizes that Dinah means it and truly just hasn’t called her out - and she figures that, had this been Dinah’s intention, she just would have done so bluntly, the woman is many things, but subtle is not one of them, “yeah. You’re right.”

“I know I am”, Dinah confidently says, Helena’s smile widening in response, “but I also know something else, I don’t think I’ve thanked you properly for saving my ass back there.”

“But you did”, Helena says, smile fading as she is confused now, her confusion only growing when Dinah reaches out and places a hand on her forearm, “you said thanks.”

“I know I  _ said _ thanks”, Dinah tells her, and Helena blinks, now not having the slightest idea what is happening anymore, “but, well, you know… There’s other ways to show gratitude. And if I’m not completely wrong, we would both very much enjoy one of them.”

She smiles, and runs her hand up Helena’s arm, leaving goosebumps in her wake; Helena swallows heavily, now having a vague idea after all where this might go, after how they have been so close to kissing during the training and during the fight.

She licks her lips without even noticing she is doing it, but Dinah of course has noticed, because her gaze flickers to her mouth, just for a second, but Helena is watching her closely now, and she in turn notices that, her heart suddenly beating fast in her chest.

Dinah starts leaning in, and Helena just knows that this is it, that the singer will kiss her now, her whole body tingling with anticipation as she becomes acutely aware of how much she wants this, and time seems to slow down to a crawl as she waits for Dinah’s lips to meet hers.

Instead, she is suddenly drenched in cold beer, and splutters, and Dinah flinches back, eyes wide, while some guy yelps behind her.

“Oh shit, oh shit”, Helena then hears him say, hurriedly wiping the beer out of her eyes so she can see, she is fairly certain this has been an accident and not some weird form of attack, but it can never hurt to be sure.

“I’m so sorry”, the man confirms her impression that he hasn’t done this on purpose, but Dinah glares at him as if she wants to strangle him anyway, “this guy shoved me and I stumbled and then my beer went everywhere. I’m really sorry!”

Helena just sighs, she can’t believe they have been stopped from kissing  _ again _ , if she believed in things like fate or destiny, she’d start to worry if perhaps, it’s just not meant to be; as she sees such things as humbug though, she’s just annoyed, and her annoyance only grows when the guy pulls a napkin from out of nowhere and moves as if to pat her dry.

“That”, she snaps, grabbing his wrist before he can actually touch her in any way, his eyes widening at the strength of her grip, “won’t be necessary.”

“Oh, um, yeah, okay”, he babbles, and when Dinah places one hand on her arm again, it’s a sort of warning and also calming touch this time; Helena takes another moment for a slow, controlled breath, then lets go of him, and Dinah pulls her hand back as well, to her growing dismay.

Perhaps, she still has time to think as Dinah finds a pack of tissues in her pocket and hands it to her so she can use it to dry herself, there will be another chance for her, once she’s wiped off the beer, with the guy retreating now; and just then, Renee comes back with their drinks, looking confused and a bit curious at the drenched Helena, and the assassin holds back a sigh while Dinah quickly explains what has happened.

“Can’t leave you guys alone for a minute”, Renee dryly comments, handing out drinks, “Huntress, please tell me you didn’t punch the guy.”

“I didn’t”, Helena confirms, and Renee gives her a look of appreciation, as they all know he would have gotten punched when they’d started their group a while ago, out of pure reflex, “even though I got close when he tried to wipe me dry using a random napkin. Dinah stopped me.”

“Of course she did”, Renee comments, and that makes it Helena’s turn to be confused again; she doesn’t ask though, just takes a sip of her beer as she quietly bemoans another chance lost, wondering if she will ever get to kiss Dinah - or be kissed by her - or if things will keep happen to interrupt them each time they are this close.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Helena. No kiss AND drenched in beer.   
> (Personally, I like beer. Not on my clothes though.)


	4. Cop Show

For the next few days, no more chances for any kissing present themselves, as Dinah and Helena neither find some alone time, nor do they get so close during training again as they have during sparring that one time with the staves; there are also no more moments when Helena has to tackle Dinah out of the line of fire, and as the days go by, Helena finds herself wondering if there actually ever will be another chance.

If there will be, she glumly thinks to herself, it won’t be that evening; it’s one of their weekly evenings off, Harley somehow has managed to convinced them that it’s important to spend time off as a team as well, and has suggested various teambuilding exercises, and one of them is educating Helena, the assassin sorely lacking when it comes to knowledge about movies and TV shows of the past 15 years.

Renee and Dinah choose movies and shows for that in turn, and for tonight, it’s Renee’s turn, and of course she has chosen one of the many 80s cop shows she loves; they all seem the same to Helena, even she with her lack of general knowledge about TV shows can tell they all follow the same formula, but she doesn’t point this out, she doesn’t want to offend Renee.

And not wanting to offend Renee is not the only reason why Helena doesn’t say anything, because just like they are at the bar, they always sit the same way when they watch stuff at Dinah’s home, and just like when they are at the bar, Dinah is close to her.

Dinah and she always sit side by side on Dinah’s couch, while Renee uses a comfortable armchair she has dragged in from God knows where; and while they usually start their movie nights sitting all proper side by side, Dinah has started migrating closer to her during the past few times they have done this, having noticed how Helena is relaxing more and more around them and making good use of that.

It has happened slowly, Dinah getting closer to her each night they do this; at first she just has sat closer to her, then has leaned against her, has rested her head on Helena’s shoulder, and apparently, tonight, she is eager to take this one step further still.

Already when they sit down and get comfortable, Dinah declares that she is tired, and Renee mumbles an agreement, yawning already; and while the first episode of the show the former cop has chosen is still playing, Dinah already is close to Helena, her head resting on the assassin’s shoulder, Helena by now not going super tense anymore when she does that, but remaining fairly relaxed, as relaxed as someone with her background and upbringing actually can be.

It seems though that this evening, sitting like that is not enough for Dinah, as she changes her position during the start of the second episode - and ends up with her head resting in Helena’s lap, and for a few seconds, she can feel the assassin go tense again at this new level of closeness. 

She does relax again though after a bit, and nods when Dinah asks her if this okay, not wanting to make her uncomfortable; Renee rolls her eyes at their antics and declares she’ll get another beer, pausing the show so she won’t miss anything - even though Helena is fairly certain she knows all those episodes by heart, anyway - before she goes to get another drink, letting out a vaguely agreeing noise when Dinah calls after her that she wants one, too.

“You know”, she then adds, turning her head so she can peer up at Helena’s face, the taller woman looking back at her, “for someone who works out like every day, you’re surprisingly comfy.”

“Cause I’m relaxed”, Helena says with a little shrug, making Dinah smile at how easily she admits that, she knows Helena would have been far from relaxed and so open about it when they’ve started this, “I guess if I did this, it’d be less comfy.”

Her legs go tense beneath Dinah’s head, and immediately, the singer grimaces; and to her amazement, Helena lets out a small chuckle as she relaxes again, she does smile more often lately, but it’s not often that she laughs, and hearing it warms Dinah’s heart.

“Don’t do that, then”, Dinah says instead of pointing this out, glad when Helena smirks again and reassures her she won’t, Renee rolling her eyes yet again at their antics as she returns and puts the beer bottle she’s brought for Dinah down on the table, just outside the younger woman’s reach, to her clear dismay.

“You drink lying on Huntress like that, you’ll choke”, Renee says matter-of-factly, and Dinah finds herself wondering if the innuendo really has been there or if she’s imagining it; she glances up at Helena, but the assassin doesn’t look embarrassed and isn’t blushing, so Dinah figures it’s okay.

“Okay, mom”, she says with a roll of her eyes, but Renee smiles a bit, and Dinah finds herself returning the smile as she sits up and grabs the beer; she regrets it a bit that she can’t lie down on Helena again, but her thirst for the moment is bigger than her need to rest her head on the taller woman, so she remains sitting upright, close to Helena though, so close that their thighs are touching.

From the corner of her eye, she notices Helena glance at her every now then, but keeps her gaze focused on the TV, not wanting another moment of loaded eye contact with Renee right there and see it, she knows there would be quite a bit of teasing; and so, Dinah keeps her eyes on the TV, taking a sip of her beer every now and then.

Until she hears an audible snore come from the armchair, and upon looking, discovers that Renee is fast asleep, still holding on to her beer, her grip on it looking precariously loose though.

Quietly, not wanting to wake Renee up, Dinah gets up from her seat and carefully takes the bottle, Helena watching her with a slight smile which widens when the former cop doesn’t awake even when the beer is pulled from her grasp; shaking her head, Dinah puts the bottle on the table, then sits down next to the assassin again, amused when she looks at her.

“Can you believe it”, she then says, keeping her voice low, “she makes us watch this and then she falls asleep!”

“Not surprised”, Helena tells her, making sure to not be too loud, either, “I bet she has seen that a hundred times, I’d fall asleep too in her place.”

At this, Dinah is forced to hold back laughter, and as it often happens when she makes Dinah or Renee laugh, Helena is a bit confused, not quite having intended to be funny; she smiles as well though, and as Dinah manages to regain her composure, she looks at her, and their eyes meet, and it’s loaded and intense again.

Helena finds herself swallowing heavily, tuning out everything else around her as she holds Dinah’s gaze; part of her is appalled at how easy it is for her to stop paying attention to her surroundings, this is something an assassin should never do, but another, bigger part of her not only knows she is safe here, but is too focused on Dinah to care much.

She’s the one to move closer this time, and just like in the bar, time seems to slow down… and a mere second before she can capture Dinah’s lips with her own, Renee suddenly says “oh! What did I miss?”, as she wakes again, and the two women flinch apart, Helena feeling her cheeks burn as she stares at the screen again.

“...nothing”, Dinah grumbles next to her, and Helena doesn’t dare look at her, she can hear the disappointment in the singer’s voice and doesn’t want to see it in her eyes, “nothing at all.”

“Good”, Renee happily says, completely missing the actual meaning of Dinah’s words; holding back a groan, Helena slumps back into the couch and tries to keep her focus on the TV show, but finds it quite hard to do so, her mind returning to the fact that they have missed yet another chance, and she finds herself wondering if she ever actually will get that kiss or if it will keep going wrong somehow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Renee really needs to work on her timing...


	5. Celebrate Good Times

Once Helena has received the account information from the diamond, she’s started using that money to fund their team, but neither Dinah, nor Renee want to live solely of what she is offering to pay them; and so, while Renee does private detective work more or less on the side, Dinah has started looking for jobs at nightclubs, not necessarily as a singer again, but with a focus on that, even though she wouldn’t have minded being a barkeep or a waitress, if only so she’ll earn some money of her own.

As it turns out though, people apparently have listened to her while she still has been singing at Sionis’ club, some of them at least and enough of them to remember her voice when she starts applying; and so, she gets invited to do a sort of test set to one of the nicer clubs in town, and it goes better than she ever would have dared to hope.

Not only do they offer her a job to sing on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, but they pay better than Sionis has too, and even offer healthcare; Dinah is more than happy to accept, and excited when her first official set at the club is drawing near.

“You guys  _ have _ to come”, she tells the other two on the night before her first gig, after they have taken down yet another gang, “Joey, the owner, told me I could invite up to five people, and I want the two of you there. Maybe Harley, too, she can be vexing, but…”

“She better behave”, Renee say somewhat thoughtfully, “or we’ll threaten her to have Huntress hit her.”

Helena doesn’t question why she’d be the one to hit Harley, just shrugs, then smirks while Dinah snickers and nods; she makes a mental note to truly threaten Harley with bodily harm if she doesn’t behave, then gives the other two puppy dog eyes, asking once again if they’ll come.

“Sure”, Helena says at once, Renee nodding along, “I want to hear you sing again, you were amazing at Sionis’ club.”

“Aw, thank you”, Dinah says, to the assassin’s amazement blushing a little bit as normally, the singer isn’t one to react like this, not even when complimented, “well, I’m looking forward to seeing you guys there then. You’ll have to dress up a bit, it’s one of the nicer places in town, you know.”

She halfway expects Helena to protest, as so far, she never has seen her in anything else than clothes suitable for fighting; and so, she’s a bit amazed when Helena nods at once, apparently not bothered by the thought, Renee shrugging before she nod as well.

“You won’t have to worry about us”, she then points out, “but Harley, that’s gonna be interesting.”

“I’ll talk to her”, Dinah says with a small shrug, “the threat of Helena’s boot meeting her butt might be helpful.”

Helena raises an eyebrow at this, but doesn’t comment on it; she just smirks a bit, and after a moment, Dinah smiles back at her, looking forward to the gig even more now as she knows that her friends will be there - and because she is curious to see Helena all dressed up, not having an idea what to expect, but fairly certain that she will like it.

* * *

To Dinah’s slight dismay, there is no time for her to hang out with her friends before her set, as she has to get ready and warm up her voice; she knows they are there though, Renee has texted her when they have arrived, with a wide-eyed emoji and the information that Harley has indeed dressed up, and now, as she gets ready, Dinah finds herself wondering what she actually looks like, she figures Renee would have warned her if it’s something outrageous, but then, one never knows with Harley.

She also wonders about Helena, but Renee hasn’t made any comment about her, and she doesn’t want to get teased by the former cop for asking; and so, she tells herself to be patient and to focus on her set, feeling nervous when she steps out onto the small stage.

The lights on said stage are quite bright, she figures that makes sense so people can actually see her; they also keep her from seeing much though, as they are more or less shining in her face, and everything beyond the lights and the edge of the stage is dark in comparison, so Dinah has no idea how many people are actually there and are watching her.

Unlike when she has sung at Sionis’ club though, this place is quite quiet as she sings, when people aren’t clapping along to the faster songs, so she figures they all are quite focused on her; and when the lights are dimmed as her set ends and she takes a bow, she’s stunned to see that the place is packed, and the guests are all applauding her, a wide happy smile curling her lips as she thanks them.

Now that her set is done, Dinah is eager to join her friends, and quickly hurries to her room backstage - which is nicer than the one she’s had at Sioinis’ club, as well, this job truly is an upgrade, she thinks to herself - and changes from her stage outfit into something more comfortable; it’s still somewhat fancy, so she’ll fit in with the fancier environment, but not quite as flashy as her performance clothes, and she feels comfortable and good when she leaves the backstage area and goes to find her friends.

She has to weave through the crowd, and several of the people stop her to congratulate her on her singing; finally though, she does find the three women at the bar, and her steps falter a bit when she sees them.

Renee is in what Dinah calls her detective attire, with cotton slacks and a dark blouse, and Harley has put on a surprisingly fancy dress, her make-up a bit subdued than usual, as well; what does nearly make Dinah stumble though is Helena, she’s not been sure what to expect, and what she sees now is impressing and affecting her more than she would have thought.

Dinah can tell that the suit Helena is wearing has been tailor-made to fit her frame, and she finds herself wondering if that is part of being an assassin, having fancy and obviously expensive clothes like that, or if she just has gotten it recently for an event such as this one; and clearly, Helena takes note of how Dinah is looking at her, as she colours a bit and quickly takes a sip of her drink, not looking away though when her eyes meet Dinah’s.

“You were amazing!” Harley calls out while Dinah is still a few feet away, loud enough to make several heads turn, “everybody! Wasn’t she amazing?”

“Thank you”, Dinah smiles once she is close enough so she doesn’t actually need to shout as well, “I’m glad you enjoyed, I’m happy you’re guys, it means a lot.”

“It was amazing”, Helena sincerely says, Dinah finding herself blushing again at the way Helena looks at her as she speaks, and at how solemn she sounds, as if she wants to make sure Dinah believes her and doesn’t think she just says this to be nice, “you’re amazing, really good.”

“Thank you”, Dinah says, her gaze once more meeting Helena’s, and once more, it’s an intense sort of look, she notices Renee pull Harley away from the corner of her eye, but doesn’t glance at them, “that means a lot, so… thanks. You look amazing, by the way.”

“Oh, thank you”, Helena says, blushing a bit again as she looks down at herself, “the guy had this made for me, you know. Uh, in Sicily, just in case I ever need to go somewhere fancy while… working on my list.”

She’s skillfully avoided giving away that she actually has lived with assassins and that her list had been a list of people to murder, making Dinah smile a bit; feeling daring now, after the successful gig and at how Helena is looking at her, she steps closer and places one hand on the taller woman’s arm, pretending to feel the fabric of the jacket while in reality, she just wants to touch her.

Helena swallows noticeably at her touch, and Dinah is watching her closely enough to notice her gaze flicker down to her lips, for just a moment, but long enough to let her register it; she thinks back to the moments before when they almost have kissed, and suddenly is determined to pull it through this time, not caring about the people around them who might see.

She gets ready, pulls in a deep breath, and starts to lean in, and just then, someone yells “Dinah!”, and she flinches back, and for a moment, she wants to shout, with her power, too, she can’t believe they have been stopped  _ again _ .

She quickly realizes though that the one calling out to her has been the owner of the club, and so, she doesn’t just ignore him; she gives Helena an apologetic look, then turns to see what he wants, while Helena sighs and down the rest of her drink in one go, watching Dinah talk to the man and asking herself why she can’t just get the kiss she wants so much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love the mental image of Helena in a suit. XD


	6. Perfect (For Us)

After they once again have managed to not kiss, Helena has excused herself and has ducked outside for some fresh air, while Joey is gushing at Dinah about how well she has done and how happy he is to have her sing for his club now; and while Helena is happy for her as well, she’s also annoyed, she can’t believe they have been interrupted again.

She grumbles to herself as she steps outside, for a moment almost wishing she’d smoke, figuring a cigarette might help calm her down - Luca always has told her that smoking is a nasty habit, but often has done so while he actually has been lighting up a cigarette, so it has been a bit difficult to take his words about that certain topic seriously.

Still Helena has never started, she’s stolen one of his smokes once and has tried it, and has coughed so badly she’s almost thrown up; that has disgusted her enough to convince her she never wants to smoke, but Luca always has calmed down when he’s had a smoke, and Helena figures it wouldn’t hurt for her to calm down now, as well.

She sighs to herself as she walks a few steps away from the entrance and stares up at the nightly sky; she hears the door open behind herself and automatically looks over, years of training not allowing her to ignore her instincts when it comes to a possible threat emerging from behind her, and she’s pleasantly surprised to see Dinah step outside, the singer smiling at her when she spots her.

“Hey”, the singer says, moving to stand by her side, “you okay? You walked out sort of… fast.”

“Fine”, Helena tells her at once, then pauses for a moment before she sighs and shrugs, deciding she might as well be honest with Dinah, “well… Mostly fine. It was quite crowded in there you know, I’m not used to that and… I was… annoyed.”

“At the crowd?” Dinah wants to know, even though Helena is fairly certain that Dinah knows exactly what she’s been annoyed about, but just wants to hear her say it out loud, perhaps so she won’t make a fool of herself with the wrong sort of move, even though Helena at this point would have given her left arm for a kiss from her. 

“Not just at the crowd”, she thus says, deciding that she might as well be forward and open now, since the past few times where none of them actually has said anything haven’t worked out at all, Dinah giving her a curious and, Helena is pretty sure, hopeful look, “also at… the fact that we…”

Someone lets out a scream in a nearby side alley, one full of fear, and Helena wants to answer with one of her own, but one of rage and frustration; neither she, nor Dinah can ignore this though, something they both know as they exchange a look, and Dinah lets out a long-suffering sigh.

“Hold that thought”, she says, Helena nodding at once, determined to not let another chance go to waste, she has enough of this; together, they hurry to where the scream has come from, and neither of them is surprised to see that it’s a young woman, cornered by three unpleasant looking guys.

Helena is angry, not just at them for ambushing a woman like that, but also for interrupting Dinah and her  _ again _ , and just when she has managed to work up the courage to be completely honest; and so, she lets out a sharp “hey!”, glaring when all three look, one of them grinning sleazily as he takes in Dinah and her. 

“Ladies”, he then says, his companions grinning as well now, apparently unaware of the danger they now are in, but then, Helena realizes, the suit is hiding her build, and while Dinah does look fit, Helena figures these men have no idea how hard she actually can kick, “you want to join in on the fun?”

“Definitely”, Helena says, and smiles, and clearly, the guy can read  _ something _ in her smile which makes him uneasy; he doesn’t turn to run though, and as he is clearly the leader, neither do his friends.

He turns to face her fully instead, clenching his fists, and that is all Helena needs; she starts forward, Dinah right next to her, they both know this won’t be much of a challenge, but the girl the men have been threatening still looks terrified, even though some of that fades when the leader guy tries to punch Helena and she easily sidesteps the clumsy attack.

She uses his own momentum from the missed hit against him, grabbing his meaty forearm and yanking him forward, her free hand slamming into his back for extra force as she smashes him face first into the wall; and while he goes down, Dinah takes care of one of the other two, kicking him in the stomach and, when he doubles over in pain, bringing her heel up and slamming it down onto his back, sending him to the ground as well.

The third guy looks undecided for a moment, not sure if he should run or try to fight; then, both Helena and Dinah turn to face him, and he mutters “fuck no” - before he does turn and run, not looking back, leaving his two buddies groaning on the ground, Helena shaking her head as she watches him go, for a moment toying with the idea of chasing him, then shrugging it off while Dinah asks the girl if she’s okay.

“I am now”, she tells the singer in response, still a bit shaken up, “thanks to you guys, that was awesome. Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it”, Dinah tells her, “go inside the club, I work there, tell Joey to give you a drink on the house, to calm your nerves.”

“Thank you”, the girl says again, then vanishes into the club; Dinah and Helena walk a few steps away from the downed men, then the singer stops abruptly and turns to face Helena, only the assassin’s good reflexes keeping her from bumping into the smaller woman.

“So”, Dinah says, “I believe you were telling me what you were annoyed about? I still want to know.”

“No more talking”, Helena decides in response, “we’ll just get interrupted again. And I’m done being interrupted.”

Dinah has a moment to raise an eyebrow, then Helena is taking a step closer, she doesn’t need more than that to be close enough, one of her arms moving to wrap around Dinah’s waist while the other comes up to cup her cheek, and then she’s kissing her, and Dinah can’t hold back a small sigh as she embraces the assassin and pulls her even closer.

“Finally”, the singer mumbles once they pull apart again, Helena smirking a bit, “I think if someone had interrupted again, I would have screamed. This was getting ridiculous.”

“I agree”, Helena says with a small laugh, Dinah’s smile widening at the sound, “and of course, when we do manage to kiss, it’s after a fight.”

“It fits us though, don’t you think?” Dinah half states, half asks, making Helena smile as well while she shrugs; Dinah takes a moment to smile back at her, then pulls her in for another kiss, and as they kiss once more, Helena decides that Dinah is right - it truly fits them, it’s perfect for them, and now that they finally have gotten there, she wouldn’t have had it any other way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally. XD  
> Three guesses now what the last chapter will be ;)


	7. Kissing (Further South)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Steamy times ahead ;)

“So”, Dinah says quite a while later, as they are getting ready to leave the club, running one hand down Helena’s front, now not needing to pretend anymore it’s because of her suit’s fabric, “you want to come home with me?”

“Ohoho”, Harley lets out, smiling innocently when Dinah shoots her a dirty look; Helena apparently has decided to ignore Harley, as she keeps her gaze on Dinah while she nods, looking a bit nervous, but also happy, so Dinah figures she really wants to and isn’t just agreeing to be polite.

“Have fun you two”, Harley smirks, shrugging when Renee nudges her; Dinah decides not to glare this time, but just smirks, and while Helena colours a bit, she smiles as well, her smile widening when Dinah takes hold of her hand.

“See you guys”, she still takes time to say, then leads the way outside, Helena walking along next to her; now she’s glad she hasn’t come here on her bike, she’s had a few drinks and Dinah has come to the club with her car, so if she had used the bike, they would have had to drive separately, but as it is, she can ride with Dinah, feeling excited as she gets into the passenger seat.

She can tell Dinah is excited as well, the singer barely managing to stay within the speed limit, but the last thing she wants now is to be stopped by an overeager cop and lose valuable time; and so, even though she is eager to get home, she drives so that Helena and she are not at risk, and by the time she parks in front of her building, Helena’s leg is bouncing restlessly, making her smile at how excited the assassin is.

“Easy there”, she teases as she kills the engine, smirking when Helena blushes a bit, “but it’s good to know you’re excited about this.”

“I’ve wanted to kiss you for weeks”, Helena bluntly tells her, and now, it is Dinah’s turn to feel her cheeks heat up, she knows Helena can be blunt, but still hasn’t quite expected this level of honesty, “and… do other things to you. With you. So of course I’m excited.”

“Good”, Dinah says, blush fading as she regains her confidence while they get out of the car, “let’s not waste any time then, shall we?”

Helena nods at once, and they make their way to Dinah’s apartment as fast as it’s humanly possible; and once there, Dinah immediately leads the way to the bedroom, neither of them in the mood to act as if they want a drink or a snack.

Once there, Helena feels a bit nervous for a moment, this is not the first time she’ll get intimate with someone, but it is first time she does so with someone she actually has feelings for; taking note of her momentary hesitation, Dinah steps closer to her and quietly says “hey”, making the assassin look at her.

“You okay?” Dinah asks, she wants to do this, but what she wants even more is to not make Helena uncomfortable; Helena nods at once though, then clears her throat, blushing a bit when she responds, the singer smiling slightly at what the taller woman is telling her.

“I’ve done this before”, she says, “but… not with someone who’s… important to me. And I don’t want to mess this up.”   


“You won’t”, Dinah reassures her at once, “it’ll work out just fine, you’ll see. Now, why don’t we start with getting you out of that suit? You look very nice in it, but I’m fairly certain you will look even better wearing less.”

To her relief, Helena smirks at that and nods, shrugging out of the jacket, carelessly letting it drop to the floor; Dinah wastes no time and immediately moves to unbutton the shirt she’s wearing beneath it, and as Helena doesn’t just want to stand there and let Dinah undress her, she returns the favour.

It doesn’t take long until they’re both down to their underwear, and now Helena takes the initiative, to Dinah’s delight, moving in for another kiss and simultaneously prompting her to move back with gentle pressure until she ends up on the bed, on her back with Helena on top of her; the assassin runs a calloused, but surprisingly gentle hand down her side, and she groans, the touch already enough to turn her on beyond reason.

Helena pulls back and moves to kiss her throat, and Dinah groans, she’s always enjoyed being kissed there; and Helena quickly picks up on how much she enjoys it, running her tongue over the sensitive skin, and Dinah can feel her smirk when she lets out another groan in response. 

“You’re being smug”, the singer accuses, smiling though when Helena lifts her head just enough so she can look at her, “that was a smug smirk, I could tell.”

“Maybe”, Helena replies, Dinah raising an eyebrow; the assassin takes a moment to smile at her, then clears her throat, to Dinah’s amazement colouring a bit when she continues, here she is, in bed with the woman who can kill a man with her bare hands without breaking into a sweat, and yet she gets endearingly shy when she tells her what she wants to do.

“I want to kiss you”, she says, and for a moment, Dinah is confused as they have been doing exactly that for quite a bit already, only to realize what Helena means when she goes on, “but, um… not on the mouth. A bit… farther… south.”

“Go ahead”, Dinah says at once, the way she goes slightly breathless at the mere idea giving Helena a boost of confidence; her smile widens a bit, and she nods - before she starts kissing down the singer’s body, Dinah groaning with both pleasure and anticipation, Helena is not even  _ there _ yet and already her breath is quickening and her heart is racing.

Then, Helena gets there, and when she makes use of her tongue, Dinah finds herself gripping the bedsheets and moaning, her sounds only encouraging Helena further, the assassin increasing her efforts as she loves the sound of Dinah moaning and is eager to hear it again.

She feels one of Dinah’s hands entangle in her hair, and then the singer pulls a bit when Helena keeps going, and while it should have hurt, it only encourages her more; she keeps going, adding her fingers after a while, and that earns her more moans, the breathless sound of Dinah’s voice telling her she’s doing something right.

“Fuck, yes, keep going”, Dinah manages, hips twitching as Helena does exactly that, her back arching off of the mattress when Helena finds exactly the right spot; somehow, she manages to not cry out, she’s fairly certain she would have taken a chunk of the ceiling out, had she done so now, but even without her power making an appearance, Helena can tell she has pushed Dinah over the edge, slowing down the movements of both her fingers and tongue before she stops completely and pulls back, smug again as she looks at the singer.

“Okay”, Dinah brings out, still breathless, head slumping back onto the pillow while Helena moves back up so she can gently kiss her, “you won the right to look smug now. Jesus, that was good.”

“Happy to hear”, Helena smiles, Dinah pulling her in for another kiss; and afterwards, it is her turn to smirk, eyes sparkling as she holds Helena’s gaze.

“Just give me a moment to catch my breath”, she says, Helena’s smile widening in response, “and then I’ll return the favour.”

Helena just grins, and nods, and moves to kiss her again, she can’t quite get enough of kissing Dinah - and it’s lucky, she thinks, that she now can get as many kisses as she wants, and she’s certain there will be a lot more kisses and other, just as nice things in their future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this fairly short one is done. XD Longer one will be started soon - hope you enjoyed this one and to see you there :D


End file.
